First Christmas in Konoha
by Rose-Aki
Summary: Temari has moved in with Shikamaru and they spend their first Christmas together. Everything is still new to her and with her family in Suna, Shikamaru tries his best to make her feel at home. A special Christmas in Konoha is definitely ahead of them. Temari/Shikamaru


A/N: Hopefully you like my annual Naruto Christmas story :)

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Temari looked around the bright lighted streets of Konoha. Everywhere hung colorful lanterns on the snow covered trees and people were trying to get their last Christmas shopping done. For a few months now she called Konoha her home, but this was the first Christmas she was going to spend here. It was strange to see the village like this and Temari still felt a little out of place. Normally she associated Christmas with a lot of sand, which was expected to be in Suna, burned cookies, that was definitely always her fault, a sand Christmas tree, which Gaara was responsible for, and Kankuro's crazy puppet show.

This Christmas however would be different. Her brothers couldn't make it to Konoha for the holidays because Gaara still had an official part of the Christmas celebrations in Suna. It would be difficult for her to be really happy without them around, but she was sure that she had made the right decision with moving here. She loved Shikamaru and wanted to be with him and Konoha had always been like a second home to her.

Pulling her warm scarf tighter around her neck Temari gave the busy streets of Konoha one last look before making her way home to get ready for the night. Apparently Tsunade threw a special celebration for all jonin on Christmas Eve and of course she and Shikamaru were invited as well. It was a traditional get-together, so she had bought the kimono for the occasion.

When she finally entered the small house on the Nara compound that she called home, she found Shikamaru asleep on the couch. Normally this picture would result in a not so nice wake-up call of her and a troublesome from her boyfriend, but this time it was different. She knew how stressful the last few days had been for him and today he really deserved one of his beloved naps.

Silently tiptoeing into their bedroom Temari lay her new kimono on the bed. Ino had showed her a few pictures of the last celebration and all the girls had looked so gorgeous. Temari doubted that she could look nearly as good as them and that she had never experimented with make-up wasn't helping either. Looking at the different cosmetics that she had also bought today, she was at a loss. Now she regret denying Ino's invitation to get ready with the other girls. Sure, Ino had explained a few basics to her, but Temari didn't feel qualified enough to do any of them on her own.

Sighing she changed into her kimono and tried her best with her make-up. No one had ever really showed her how to do it and on official celebration in Suna she only wore a light red lipstick as make-up. So far that had been good enough to represent the princess of Suna, but in Konoha it seemed that her appearance on Christmas Eve was more important. Half an hour and a lot of tries later she ended up looking like a panda. Disappointed in herself she let the brush, that she had used, sink back on a newly opened eye shadow box. On the battlefield she was never insecure, but she wasn't used to this. Everyone would look beautiful tonight and every guy there would be proud of the girl by his side, only Shikamaru wouldn't be. Maybe it would be better if she stayed at home and he went alone. Not only didn't she know most of the people there, but she also couldn't compete with the other girls beauty wise. Giving up, she was about to go to the bathroom to wash her face, when the door to their bedroom opened and Shikamaru entered.

At first he looked sleepy, but when he saw her his eyes widened.

"You look like Ino when she tried to impress Sasuke when we were younger. Should I be worried?"

"Idiot, I know I look horrendous. I was just about to get rid of this get-up." Temari replied harshly. She wasn't good at dealing with her insecurities and her only answer to it was her defensiveness.

Standing up she stormed over to the bathroom and removed her make-up harshly. "You should go to that celebration alone, taking me there would only end up troublesome for you."

When her face was finally free of all the make-up she looked into the mirror, only to find the reflection of Shikamaru leaning on the door frame.

"If you want to make even more fun of me, I'll get my fan and the least of your worries will be that you're going to sleep on your beloved couch tonight."

"I didn't mean to upset you, troublesome woman." At the familiar nickname and the gentleness in his voice, Temari's defensive demeanor dropped. He must have seen that because he finally approached her and embraced her from behind, their eyes meeting through the mirror. "Do you want to tell me what all this is about?"

Feeling his warmth so close to her and seeing the love for her in his eyes she lowered her guard. He always made it so easy to confide all her emotions and feeling into him. With him she could be fully herself, her more confident self as well as the insecure young woman she was sometimes.

"Ino told me everything about the celebration tonight and everyone seems to go all out with their look, so I tried it as well, but I failed." She looked him in the eyes through the mirror the whole time, but for her last confession she broke their eye-contact. "Every girl will be looking absolutely stunning and I won't. I don't want you to be ashamed of me."

Everyone of her insecurities lay now bare in front of Shikamaru and she felt more vulnerable as if she had a kunai pointed at her heart. She trusted him with her life and she trusted him with her heart, so she hoped that she could also trust him with her softer side.

Temari was pulled out of her thoughts when she was gently turned around so that she was facing Shikamaru. Carefully she lifted her eyes to meet his and the emotions in his eyes made her heart beat faster.

"You're beautiful, troublesome woman. In this kimono you look like a real Suna princess and your face is perfect as it is. You don't need make-up to look good and I would never be ashamed of you."

Shikamaru wasn't a romantic guy, Temari had known that from the beginning, but right now no one was more romantic than him. His loving words warmth her heart for the first time this Christmas and she couldn't help but tell him how much she loved him.

Never had someone made her feel more beautiful in her life. He loved her with all his heart, that she was sure of. Suddenly she was looking forward to spend her first Christmas in Konoha, all thanks to the man she loved so deeply.

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A/N: Merry Christmas :)


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